The Spirit Sword
Vincent’s master narrowed his eyes with interest as he watched the spar with the cool detachment of a judge. ‘So that’s how much talent he has.’
Shan’s Spirit Sword could only be received by those with talent. Because it contained the years and struggles of his entire life, the recipient needed the capacity to digest it all. Even without talent, one could still accept it if they demonstrated a portion of the time and hardship Shan desired.
‘I miss those days.’
Burren had once experienced the Spirit Sword himself as a test subject during the time when Shan was researching how to create it. The struggle he had felt from Shan back then was so fierce and electrifying that it had raised goosebumps all over his body. When Burren asked why a sword meant to grant enlightenment felt so vicious, Shan had simply answered:
From that single sentence, Burren had learned two things: that Shan was a genius, and that he was slightly insane. After that, he truly had gained enlightenment from Shan’s Spirit Sword.
Burren smiled faintly as he watched Shan cross blades with Adel. ‘Looks like he’s taken a liking to him.’
Shan never used his Spirit Sword on someone he didn’t like. From what Burren had seen and heard, Shan had used it no more than thirty times in total. And that was despite being the head of the Crakt family and meeting countless people every single day.
‘I wonder how it will turn out.’
Burren already knew Adel possessed talent. Shan liked people who knew how to fight. The fact that he had used his Spirit Sword on Adel meant the boy had talent and had caught Shan’s interest. From that alone, combined with the movements Adel had shown so far and the contents of Daren’s letter, everything pointed to one conclusion: he was a genius.
‘Now that I think about it, more than half of Daren’s letter was about Adel.’
Burren let out a dry chuckle. He had grown curious just what kind of talent Adel possessed that allowed him to captivate people like Shane and Daren. If Burren ever learned that Christina, Circe, and even Banya were connected to him as well, he might just faint on the spot.
Burren refocused, watching the spar with cold eyes once more. ‘……This is.’
Adel was indirectly experiencing struggle. Come to think of it, this wasn’t his first time.
‘When I awakened Battle Qi.’
During his spar with Shane, the moment he had become aware of Battle Qi, he had experienced something similar. It probably hadn’t been intentional on her part, but in the end, he had witnessed her struggle and it had helped him. This was a similar situation.
‘……He’s moving like that over there.’
Shan’s movements replayed in his mind. Each motion was instinctive, yet the most efficient possible. It was the movement of a beast that refused to lose—a completely different feeling from Adel’s own style.
Gradually, his head grew clearer. Simply watching and experiencing something new seemed to have changed the very way his brain perceived things.
“……Is this perhaps—”
“That’s right. It’s the Spirit Sword.”
“How many years of experience does it contain?”
“Oh, you can tell that too? This one’s about half a year?”
“…….”
Just as he thought. It really was the Spirit Sword.
‘Half a year, huh.’
With only that relatively short period of time, his mind had grown clear and his eyes felt as if they had been opened to a new world.
‘……I guess I somehow managed to catch his interest.’
He hadn’t done anything with that intention, but it seemed Shan had taken a liking to him. After all, Shan only used his Spirit Sword on people he liked.
Whoosh!
The moment Adel grasped a portion of the enlightenment and regained his senses, Shan began to attack. Even moving with one hand, his motions were graceful—like a noble swan rather than a beast.
“What do you think of Shane?” Shan asked as he thrust his sword.
Clang!
“…….”
Adel blocked the strike without answering. Enduring the trembling in his hands, he spun his sword in a half-circle. Flame Path wrapped around the blade and tangled with Shan’s sword.
Clang!
With a single swing, Shan shook off the flames and thought, ‘He cares for Shane, but it isn’t love.’
The reason he had asked the question was simple: to feel Adel’s emotions. In that last defense and counterattack, he had faintly sensed the boy’s heart.
And then—
“……?”
Something happened that startled even Shan.
Fwoosh!
Adel charged forward, intensifying the flames on his red blade even more fiercely. It was a similar situation to before, yet it felt slightly different to Shan.
‘Martial…… arts?’
It felt like martial arts. In other words, he could sense a form. But it wasn’t complete—it looked unstable. Shan slowly received the attack.
Kwaaaaang!
Even as he took Adel’s strike, Shan remained completely at ease. It was only natural. The difference in years and realm between them was so vast that even if Shan simply stood still, Adel wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair on his head.
‘Did he create this himself?’
He had never seen this kind of form before. He had never even heard of it. That left only one possibility: Adel had made it himself. Shane had once told him that Adel could create martial arts. If that was the case, then Shan’s guess was correct.
‘This should be fun.’
Recently, the blockhead had said something was fun, but even that had lost most of its appeal. For Shan, who had been in need of new stimulation, a refreshing breeze had just blown in.
“Wait.”
Shan stopped in place and lowered his sword.
“……?”
Adel paused as well, looking puzzled. Shan then spoke.
“Hey, kid. Want to become my disciple?”
The sudden proposal began with the word “disciple.”
The spar ended abruptly. The reason was the man who kept shoving his face in front of me and persistently asking the same thing.
“I’m telling you, just become my disciple already?”
“…….”
I didn’t say a word in response to Shan’s words. ‘He somehow reminds me of Vincent.’ His light tone made it hard to believe he was the head of a great family.
‘……I’d believe it if someone said we were the same age.’
At first glance he had looked middle-aged, but now he simply appeared to be a handsome man around my age.
“You look younger?”
To be honest, becoming the disciple of a Transcendent was something I would have prostrated myself to beg for. There was no way I would refuse such an offer. I was simply organizing my thoughts a little. Changing the subject was part of that process.
“Transcendents aren’t greatly affected by age. If you want, I can revert to how I looked in my youth?”
“…….”
Hummmm.
I hadn’t said anything, but Shan had already begun circulating his mana as he spoke. In the blink of an eye, his appearance changed—from a middle-aged man with a few wrinkles to a handsome man the same age as me.
How should I put it… ‘Shane’s handsome version?’
They looked so alike that the thought immediately came to mind.
“F……ather?”
Burren, who had approached at some point, and Shane behind him muttered in a tone that suggested they were checking.
“Yes, I am your father.”
“It really is you.”
After hearing Shan’s tone and voice, Shane nodded.
“Adel. Are you okay?”
Shane approached me before Shan did.
“……Yeah.”
Shan turned his head to look at me.
“Is there anyone you’re learning from, or have learned from before?”
He didn’t seem particularly concerned. Or perhaps investigating me took priority.
“A little from Vincent……”
The moment the name Vincent left my mouth, his expression hardened and he cut me off.
“Let’s not mention that bastard’s name. That rude punk.”
“…….”
What on earth had Vincent done to warrant this reaction? He couldn’t have actually acted that rudely. No matter what kind of person he was, he wasn’t the type to go completely overboard. And Shan’s expression didn’t look like genuine hatred either. It was probably over some trivial matter.
“Understood.”
“So, will you become my disciple or not?”
“What exactly would I do if I became your disciple?”
I had finished organizing my thoughts. It wasn’t anything too complicated. I simply wanted to know what kind of things I would be doing as his disciple. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t get a read on Shan’s intentions from his current behavior, so I asked.
“Disciple? Father, you’re the one who suggested this?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
Shane looked at Shan with eyes full of wonder. Burren did the same.
“It’s true.”
Shane whispered to me.
“Father has never taken a single disciple before. If you accept, you’ll be his first.”
“What about you?”
“I’m a bit of an exception. It’s ambiguous whether I count as a disciple or not.”
After talking with her for a moment—
“……It seems he’s taken a far greater liking to you than I thought.”
Burren muttered in surprise. Unlike his own slightly casual assumption, it looked like Shan was completely serious.
Shan continued.
“Even if you become my disciple, your daily life won’t change much. The training will be the same; the only difference is that I’ll be there. You don’t even have to call me Master if you don’t want to.”
“…….”
“Actually, aside from these three days, we probably won’t meet that often. At most, once in the Demon Realm? Or at my family’s estate.”
“I’ll do it.”
There were no downsides. Therefore, there was no reason to refuse.
“Really? Then I’m glad this master of yours can give you his first bit of help.”
“……?”
I looked at him in confusion. ‘Help?’
In truth, I had many problems. The issue was finding the time to fix them. But the help Shan was talking about probably wasn’t about those.
He continued.
“That unstable martial art of yours. I’ll help you complete it.”